Heating Up

So Semana Santa is right around the corner. That means mangos are ripening and the temperature is rising and rising. In the next two months, prior to the start of the rainy season, the temp in Managua will often rise about 100ºF. I can already start to feel it. I know on my blog today it said something like 90º and that has to be wrong. It feels much hotter.
Everything here is just coasting along. I´m into a rhythm at school. I cherish my weekends which are used for chores, cold beer, catching up on email, and sitting around relaxing. One place I´ve found really relaxing is sitting on the stoop of our house. Jenna caught a picture of me without me realizing. I like how it caught some of our local artwork on the wall across the street.


Well, that´s about all I´ve got for now. La Paz.

Solidarity...wow

Well, it sure has been longer than I had planned between blog entries. So it goes.
This is going to be something of a shotgun blog entry. I have so much on my mind. So much has happened in the past couple weeks that I feel completely discombobulated and also the need to write.
Work has its ups and downs. Mondays and Tuesdays are still incredibly difficult for me. Sometimes in the midst of my days I am reminded of Winston Churchill’s quote: “If you find yourself walking through hell, keep walking.” That’s how I feel when I’m in class with some of my first graders. Wow, they are crazy. Last week a kid was dancing on a table. After telling him numerous times to get down, he finally did, face first. I was not intending for him to face plant right in front of me. He got up crying and came to me for help. All I could do was shake my head and sigh. Despite the struggles of little nesio children, there are so many redeeming moments in my days at work. I get so many hugs and cute little kids yelling, “adios profesor Patrix!” (That’s about how it’s pronounced here)
Yesterday I had a real experience, call it a test, of solidarity. A coworker invited me to her house for lunch. On the way to her house she confessed to me that her sister just had a baby only 15 days ago. She went on to tell me that the child was born with a serious birth defect. She was born with two vaginas and two anuses. I nodded and said, “hmm.” At the time I had no idea why she was telling me about this. She brought me to her sister’s home for lunch. I met the child’s family, who are all incredibly sweet, especially the three year old sun who incessantly showed me his baseball bat and ran around in his own fantasy world. They wanted me to help them in any way I could. I fell speechless. This wasn’t in my JVI contract. She thought that I’m a gringo from the States and therefore I have money and connections that could fix this. This is partially true I suppose, but not really what I am here to do. I talked with some doctor friends of mine who suggested the family stay connected with the local children’s hospital and that the local doctors would have the best care for the child available. This situation is an interesting opportunity for discernment for me. What is my role here in Nicaragua? This is truly an experience of accompaniment. I sat and talked with the family for a couple hours, and I’m sure I’ll be back to visit. I can’t fix the problem, but I can be there when I can.
On a lighter note, our community went on our first retreat. We went to a place called La Granacha. It is in the north, in Esteli, up in the mountains. The bus ride there was like traveling through a portal to another world. The landscape turned from dry hot grasslands to cool pinewood mountains. At night we were actually COLD! I couldn’t believe that I was wearing fleece pants, a wool undershirt, fleece, and a wool beanie and it was still a bit nippy. I loved it. What and enchanting place. We dined on beans and local Swiss and goat cheese and caught a breathtaking sunset every night. It was a really good time for our community to get out of the bustling hot city and kick it in a peaceful and bucolic mountain town. I wish our JV house was there. The 4-6 hour commute probably wouldn’t work too well though. Over the next two years I can see this area being very special for me, a place of solitude and rejuvenation.





Sunset with the community, on retreat, at La Granacha.

Sick days

My alarm went off this morning at 4:50AM. I jolted into a semi-state of consciousness as I groggily stumbled around looking for my watch. I turned off the alarm only to realize how incredibly terrible I felt. Now, honestly, waking up at this time typically makes me feel this way, but today was different. I felt sick. A sore throat, headache, and thorough exhaustion were enough to put me right back to sleep. Long story short I called in sick to work and have taken the the day to recoup and rest. I haven’t slept this much in quite awhile. It’s really a miracle teachers all over aren’t dropping like flies. Just yesterday I was sneezed on by countless preschoolers and first graders. At about this time all you mothers out there should be chiming in, saying, “Do you take your vitamins…are you sleeping enough…are you drinking enough water?” Yes. I’m doing the best I can. And for the record, my health is comparatively excellent.
What else can I tell you about my life here in Nicaragua? Ohh! Today marks three months since arriving. Part of me can’t believe it has flown by so quickly and part of me feels like it really has been three months. I was just thinking about how at this time last year I still didn’t know what I was doing to do and JVI was still a dream. It’s weird how life has changed so much in such a small amount of time. It’s amazing how much has changed in my life in the past three months and I can only imagine much has changed in the lives of those in the States and elsewhere.
Work update: Baseball is fun. There are around 10-20 young guys that come out to play. Soccer is intimidating and mildly overwhelming. There were about 60 boys and girls who showed up to play soccer. I have two balls. TWO. We had a couple games but mostly I walked around and got hassled because this group or that group wanted to play. I am now coordinating with one of the English teachers to make an intramural league at the school. Apparently they’ve done that before. I had no idea. I have no intentions of reinventing the wheel. Sometimes I feel like it’s the blind leading the not-blind but the not-blind don’t want to bring up the blindness for risk of hurting my feelings. Ha. Did that make sense? Anyway, I want to say that playing shortstop on a tee-ball team and playing rugby are not the best prerequisites for coaching neither baseball nor soccer. That said, I´m having a ball.
Lately I’ve been reading A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. I like it although at times it can be rather arduous and long. I think it will be worth it. I get most of my reading time on the bus to and from work. That’s all for now. Hasta Luego.



Check out our hanging garden of herbs, mostly basil.

Views of the Revolution

Yesterday was like a time warp back to the days of the revolution in the seventies and eighties. I was able to attend a talk by Fr. Fernando Cardenal yesterday hosted by the Xavier University study abroad program which is located right in the barrio with us. They had Fernando over for a talk about his recently published memoirs about his time in the revolution. It was amazing to finally meet this man who is literally a walking history book about Nicaragua. His role in revolution was hugely important. During the Somoza years, pre-revolution when the US still like Nicaragua, Fernando went to the US congress to give testimony to the human rights abuses being done by the Nicaraguan government. He petitioned the US to stop selling arms to the Somoza government and in turn to stop being complicit in injustice, murder, and torture. He returned to Nicaragua and after the revolution was won he took a central role in the new government of the Sandinistas by helping combat illiteracy in the country. In just 4 months Nicaragua's illiteracy rate drop from over 50% to just 12%. That is the fastest and largest drop in illiteracy ever recorded by UNESCO at the United Nations. Wow, this guy is amazing. Now, at the age of 75, he is national director of Fe y Alegria. I actually first met him last week when he dropped into my school to visit some classes, including mine! What an honor!
The revolution day continued when we went to a concert featuring Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy. He is a famous Nicaraguan folk artist who has written many songs about the revolution and life in Nicaragua. He actually gave Fernando a shout out in the middle of concert for being such a great national hero and son of the revolution. I´m attaching a clip from youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUxggbBq-VM

¡Viva la Revolución!

On the Job Training

It’s funny how things come full circle. I remember hearing my mom tell me I used to hate playing soccer. I played for one season before I can really even remember. I can only imagine it like a scene of small children running haphazardly any which way the ball goes. Well, that’s sort of the way I felt last Sunday when I joined a men’s soccer league. I was invited to join a coworker and his team out in Ciudad Sandino where I work. He even helped me find some inexpensive cleats, socks, and shin guards. Although I dug deeply into my monthly stipend, I thought it would be worth it. I’m still discerning whether or not it was. Unlike when I was a child I enjoy soccer much more, but I have to admit I can’t be much better than I was when I was seven. Ok, that’s not giving me quite enough credit, but it’s been a rough learning curve. The guys I played with were weaned on soccer and played before they could even walk. I on the other hand had my athletic awakening not until high school when I started playing rugby. Nicaraguans don’t play rugby. I don’t think a guy on the other team appreciated it when my rugby instincts came out and I laid him out on the ground. God knows why I wasn’t yellow carded. Perhaps it was because I was the token white guy. All I heard during the game was “Corra chele!” which basically just means: “Run whitey!” That’s fine advice, to run, but it would have helped to know where I was needed to run. I couldn’t even tell who was on my team because no one could afford jerseys. They all knew each other but I was lost in a sea of intimidating 20-something young men.
We had another game this Sunday. I didn’t go. I have a cold. It’s true! And I really didn’t want to play, ha. I really don’t know if I’ll go back. I honestly think they wanted me to be on the team because they thought I could help them buy jerseys for the team. When I told them about my monthly pittance I think their glowing interest in me began to diminish drastically. If I’m not bringing money to the team it isn’t like I bring much more.
The cleats will not go to waste because somehow I’ve been wrangled into coaching soccer at my school. Hmmm. This is going to be interesting. I’ve already been consulting friends on how to do this. On top of this I’ll be coaching baseball too. And, if you didn’t know, I played t-ball, and that’s about the extent of my experience. Oh, I’ve also been to a few Reds games. As Steve Poat taught me this past fall, ministry is all about on the job training. So it goes. I’m just going into it with an open mind and with the intent of having fun. I can hope for nothing more than to have a good time and give kids an athletic outlet after school. Today I was hanging out at school in the afternoon and ran into a group of older high school students loitering near the basketball court. I joined them for a pickup game of fútbol sala or indoor soccer which is basically just 5-on-5 soccer on a basketball court. We played barefoot in our work and school clothes. They wore me out but I held my own and even scored twice.
We begin practice next week. Wish me luck. If anyone has good resources for coaching soccer or baseball please pass them along. I need all the help I can get. Cheers!

Happy Day of Friendship and Love

Happy Valentine´s Day!

Here in Nicaragua we say Feliz Día de amistad y amor. Anyway, It´s been a crazy few weeks here in the JVI homestead. We are all into work full swing. I had my first week will classes. They are much different than I expected. It sort of look like this. I show up Monday morning after an hour bus ride on an old American school bus from the seventies. I roll into work around 7am. Oh yeah I woke up at 4:50am. I´m already feeling hungry. Anyway, 7:15, time for my first class. Preschool. While half the class goes to the computer lab I stay with the other 15 four year-olds. Whoa. By noon I was about to cry or just fall asleep where I stood. As the week went on it got better. I´m only in class Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. Starting next week I´ll have soccer and baseball practice twice a week each, and chorus practice on Friday. It´s all keeping me thoroughly busy and joyfully exhausted. Well, that´s all for now. It´s Saturday night and my turn to cook. I´m thinking a good ol home-cooked breakfast, pancakes and all. Peace, love, and friendship to all you friends and loved ones out there. And for those of you like us JVs ¨Happy Singles Awareness Day¨. Cheers.

Adventure

Oxford Dictionary describes adventure as
1. An unusual and exciting experience
2. A daring enterprise

Life is an adventure. I don’t know who originally said it, but for me, it is true. Whether I seek it out or is just finds me, adventure is ubiquitous here. Everyday I find something new, unusual, and exciting. Most recently I started work at Colegio Roberto Clemente. Sure it is my work, my volunteer service, the reason I am here far from my family and friends, but it is also a great adventure. The school is very impressive. Compared to many, it has great trees and gardens that create a cool and welcoming environment. The school is really big too with almost 1500 students in both the primary and secondary programs, comparable to pre-K thru 12th grade in the states. My first week was incredibly chill. I went half days and mostly hung out with my coworker Yamil who teaches religion class for basically every student at the school. He has only been at the school for about one year and so is also still getting accustomed to the school. His hospitality and friendship have me really pumped to get going with my work. The first day of class I was introduced to the entire student body and many of their parents. It was overwhelming. They applauded louder than anyone else. I was humbled and embarrassed.
You may ask, “well, what is your work?” Let me tell you. More or less I am the campus minister. They have never had anyone to fill this position so I have a ton of freedom to observe, learn, and then create activities, programs, or clubs. Some ideas we already have for the year include: a movie/documentary club, retreats, music ministry, and maybe some outdoor outings. On top of that I will be tutoring classes of little munchkins three mornings a week. Also, I will likely be helping out with the soccer and baseball teams. (The school doesn’t have rugby…yet. Haha) That’s pretty much all I know. For all I know when I arrive tomorrow they’ll have changed their plans. I’m flexible. That’s the name of the game. It’s an adventure.



Sunday I went on a more traditional adventure. Michael and I set off with our friends Joe and Sean for Volcán Telica. We left the house at 6am toward Leon and caught another bus out into the countryside. We got off the bus at a bridge and struck out toward a huge and intimidating volcano, miles away. It took us about 3.5-4 hours to hike up to the crater. It was so hot and dusty. The crater was out of this world. We couldn’t really see across the crater because of billowing steam coming out from about 200 feet down in the crater. The view from the top was beautiful and the cool wind was a welcome relief from the heat of the forest below. By the time we reached the bottom around 4pm we were ready for a victory beer and a bus to get us home. We were literally caked in dirt and sweat and smelled like it too. We rolled into the house approximately 13 hours after we had left, exhausted, dirty, and so happy. When I was sitting on the top of the volcano I remembered the story of Elijah on Mt. Sinai (1 Kings 19: 11-14). At the summit all I could hear was the quiet whisper of the wind. It was such a dramatic shift from the loud bustling life of Managua. In that wind I felt peace.
It might seem that I only write about the big adventures and life changing experiences but the truth is that the longer I am here the more I can begin sitting and listening to the small whispers that are all around me all the time. The come more and more frequently past the bustling noises of life.




What I´m listening to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62i9Sodwp5o&feature=related
What I´m reading: This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald